The Guild of the Forsaken

CHAPTER 32 - Hungry Lions Seek Fresh Meat

!TW: Violence!

Dreaming of Another Girl - Hidden Charms

October 4th 2024

GOTHAM CITY

Patrol was going normally. Well, if you could call taking down armed robbers and multiple thugs normal. But in the eyes of a vigilante such as Robin it was a rather quiet night.

No less brutal however.

Gotham City is the crime capital of the world, the city never sleeps as some say. Except this time its not the bustling workers or the thrum of community that keeps it awake. Rather a festering darkness that pushes desperate people into desperate situations. It's a cutthroat environment, often quite literally.

The pent-up tension flooding his body as a result of Bridgette's unrelenting presence in his mind was grating on his every last nerve. The woman was insufferable with her bright hair and sunshine personality. But is that not what draws him to her in the first place his traitorous mind argues. He mimics a moth while she is a burning flame.

His own confusion at his everchanging emotions is perhaps what truly angers him most. Coming from a family who aren't very good at handling or expressing their emotions either, he somehow had received the less than helpful advice from Todd to 'Go beat some ass, trust me you'll feel better after.'

All but Drake were aware of who Bridgette was. So far Drake has kept his mouth shut but Robin was unsure how long his silence would last. Secrets were a hard thing to keep, they always want to escape. And in a family full of paranoid people who yearn to know every intimate part of a person it was hard to keep anything sacred.

Hungry lions seek fresh meat.

Robin has no intentions of being their prey anytime soon. Unknown to him the hunt will begin soon with him being an unwilling member of the hunted.

Todd's ill placed advice is a beautiful lie wrapped in ribbons of avoidance in Robin's opinion. Taking down criminals with more violence than was necessary only provided him with brief moments of peace.

The familiar thrum of adrenaline beneath his veins pumping him with calm energy, his movements practiced and executed perfectly. Just as he was taught. His muscles contracting and relaxing when and where he needed them to, where they remembered to. It was an intimate dance with the soul. Even his katana is an extension of himself. Blade sharp and unrelenting.

Damian was born and bread to be a weapon, a vessel.

Robin embodied that fully, latched onto that ideal and the superiority.

Back then when he was but ten years old it was instantaneous, he fully believed in himself and his path, not one he chose but one he was assured was his. Now he isn't so sure.

But it is undeniably easier to plaster on the false bravado rather than face the grim reality that is his own wants and needs.

Swinging from building-to-building Robin sees his cape fly behind him in the reflection of large windows that make up the monstrous skyscrapers that lay in multitude across Gotham City.

Doing patrol on his own was both Robin's most and least favourite thing. It all depended on his fluctuating mood between more and less annoyed.

Stopping for a moment on a lower apartment building Robin adjusts his comm so that the blaring voices of his siblings doesn't turn him deaf. Looking out onto the skyline Robin can't help but subtly admire the place that he now calls home.

Squares of light shine through the murky cover of night. All shapes and sizes of windows act as peeping holes into peoples lives. Each incredibly unique and each withholding an infinite amount of information.